For a Friend
by MisterFroster
Summary: On the way back to Konoha after defeating Gaara, Naruto is kidnapped by the Akatsuki. Sasuke has to choose between getting his revenge, and saving his friend.


_**Hn.**_

"_How?! How could he be so strong? I've trained and I've bled, I conditioned myself so that one day I can defeat that man, but out of nowhere Naruto is stronger than me? ME?"_

Sasuke dragged his feet behind the medics that were carrying Naruto and Gaara on stretchers. They were near the edge of the village, so they'd be arriving soon. Sakura was awake and being supported by Sasuke, but the girl was too tired to even notice that her crush was intimately close with her.

She did notice however that the raven-haired boy was muttering to himself incoherently. Nudging him with her head, she began to speak.

"Thank you for saving me, Sasuke-kun. I know I've always annoyed you, and I've never done anything to earn your respect, but you still saved me and that's what matters."

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you, could you please repeat that Sasuke-kun?"

"I said, I didn't save you. Naruto did."

The girl chuckled, "I will admit he's gotten much stronger, but stronger than you and Gaara? I doubt it. There's no need to be humble, you saved me."

He pulled himself away from the girl, and without his support she nearly fell. She recoiled as the boy leveled a sharingan fueled glare of which she'd never seen before, one of unbridled jealousy and anger.

"Naruto did it. That nobody, clan-less idiot did what I couldn't and beat Gaara. Now, will you shut up?"

She nodded meekly and began to walk on, but started to lose balance after only a few steps. Stepping forward, Sasuke slid his shoulder back under her arm to help support her for the rest of the way, but the intimacy that was present earlier was lost.

They continued on towards the village, and the walls were nearly in sight. Breathing a sigh of relief, Sasuke finally felt that his ordeal was ov- "GET DOWN!"

A fireball flew straight at the group of shinobi, decimating the medics and nearly catching the genin unawares. Had he not had his eyes activated, Sasuke and Sakura would have been melted as well. Instead, he managed to shield their bodies and dive away, receiving only minor burns in the process.

The second fireball, the one that came at them from behind, was a different story entirely.

Sasuke was an Uchiha, and as such he was no stranger to burns. He could feel the charred remains of his shirt that were fused with his skin, and knew that he wasn't going to remain conscious for much longer. The pain was too much on top of his earlier injuries.

As he slowly drifted off into a comatose state, he caught a glimpse of two men carrying away his teammate and the enemy he had defeated. With his last glimmer of consciousness, he saw a black cloak and red clouds.

?

Death was something Sasuke was used to. He had watched his family die, over and over again in a genjutsu filled nightmare. He was numb to death.

Watching his teammate (and, though he'd never admit it, his friend) get kidnapped as he lay there helpless was a different feeling altogether.

Just seconds before, he had been overwhelmed with anger over the fact that he was weaker than Naruto, and now, as he lay in the hospital two weeks later, he was missing the constant source of noise. The only thing Sasuke could think about was getting his friend back.

Kakashi had visited him as soon as he had recovered(and was off the pain meds) and told him that a group called Akatsuki had taken Naruto and Gaara away. Supposedly, they had planned to wait three years to kidnap the boys but after seeing their potential decided to up their time table in case the Jinchurikii became too capable.

The revelation that Naruto held the nine tails didn't faze Sasuke. It explained some things, like his huge reserves, but Sasuke didn't care in a negative way. In fact, it only made Sasuke want to save him more, as he finally, _finally,_ understood that Naruto was just as lonely as he was, albeit in a different fashion.

Another person who came to visit Sasuke was a large, white haired man with a strange headband. He had introduced himself has Jiraiya of the Sannin, a legend in the leaf village. At first, Sasuke thought the man only cared about saving the villages "precious Jinchuriki" as he had overheard one of the village elder's refer to Naruto as, but after a short conversation he understood it was something else entirely.

While Kakashi had been training him, Jiraiya trained Naruto. He had taken him on as a sort of apprentice, and was planning on taking him on a training trip to help him control his powers and keep him away from the akatsuki. He hadn't predicted that Akatsuki would take the opportunity to steal the jinchuriki so early, and was enraged at himself for letting that slip past him.

Jiraiya interviewed the young Uchiha about every little detail he had caught before fading into unconsciousness, and was impressed at the details that Sasuke had caught. Three weeks after the kidnapping, Sasuke was released from the hospital and was met by Kakashi and Jiraiya. Kakashi looked uncharacteristically annoyed, while Jiraiya was grinning slightly.

"What's this about Kakashi?" the stoic Uchiha asked.

"Jiraiya-_sama_ here is going to be taking you on a mission. He claims that because of your bond with Naruto, you will be a valuable asset to him. Sakura is still in the hospital for her burns, while you managed to save her life the skin on her legs still hasn't regrown and as such she'll need more treatment."

"And the mission?" Sasuke asked, looking at Jiraiya.

"To bring back my teammate, the third member of the Legendary Sannin Tsunade. She's to be the next Hokage, and as such I've been tasked with escorting her to the village. I figured you might be able to help me, and maybe I could give you some fighting tips while we travel."

Kakashi glared at him, internally annoyed that his own student was being taken like this. Naruto was meant to be his apprentice, and as his godfather it was Jiraiya's right to take that roll. But Sasuke was Kakashi's student, and the one he had the most to teach. Sakura had the makings of a medic, something Kakashi was almost inept at(despite meeting all the requirements). Sasuke however was practically a clone of Kakashi, and had more potential than even the Legendary Copy Nin.

"I accept the mission. If you think it will help get Naruto back, then I'm all for it."

"Trust me kid, it will."

The pair had gotten a significant distance from the village, and Sasuke was getting annoyed with the older man's antics. This was the legendary Jiraiya? The Toad Sage of Konoha? Rumored to be as strong as the late Hokage, a walking man child?

It was like walking with an older Naruto, except the familiarity he had with Naruto wasn't there. Once they had reached their stopping point for the day, Jiraiya ordered Sasuke to drop his gear and take a fighting stance.

"I want to see how you fight and what you're strengths are. First we'll start with a simple Taijutsu spar, and then you can explain to me what you're good at in terms of nin and genjutsu. Deal?"

Sasuke nodded, and they began to spar. Whereas Sasuke was usually able to at least come close to hitting Kakashi, Jiraiya was on another level. Without his Sharingan, Sasuke couldn't even come within a foot of the man, and even with it activated Jiraiya was so unpredictable that Sasuke never stood a chance. Despite getting his ass handed to him, Jiraiya had a lot of praise for him.

"You're good kid. For a 6 months out genin, even for an Uchiha, you're skilled. You're quick, and while you fight very stiffly you have a lot of varied moves that make you very versatile. I'd imagine you're better than pretty much any genin out there, at least the ones I've seen."

"If I'm so good, then why couldn't I beat Gaara? Naruto did it, but only after I had gotten utterly defeated. If I had been good enough, Naruto wouldn't have been unconscious and maybe he wouldn't have been kidnapped."

"Simple, strengths and weaknesses. I assume you know about elemental ninjutsu, and how they all have a strength and weakness to the other elements right?"

Getting a short nod in response, the older man continued, "Ninja are the same way. Your style is much more of a true ninja's style than Naruto. You're fast and efficient, good at stealth, a true assassin. He's a brawler, a stamina powerhouse, and he's hard to put down. Against a normal ninja, or even against Gaara without his tailed beast, you have the advantage. But you're young, and while you're very powerful you simply can't keep up with that big of a heavy hitter. Naruto could because I taught him how to summon the Toad Chief, and he had the chakra to keep up with Gaara.

Put simply, your fight was a huge mismatch, while it was much more even in Naruto's case. You didn't lose because Gaara was better, you lost because he had the clear advantage over you."

Sasuke nodded, eyes wide with realization. But then, his seal started to creep out from his collar and he started to glare again.

"So what? I, an Uchiha, can't take care of heavy hitters but a nobody like Naruto could because of his beast?"

Jiraiya glared right back, and a quick flash of killing intent scared Sasuke so bad his seal retracted right back where it came from.

"First off, he's not a nobody. You know his last name right? Believe it or not, the Uzumaki were once a massive clan famed for their reserves and vitality. Uzumaki chakra was something special, and even if he isn't full blooded he clearly has the same traits. His beast may have helped, but most of that is all Naruto. I wouldn't be one to complain about advantages, I'm sure most ninja would kill, literally, for eyes and skills like yours."

Sasuke nodded meekly. Jiraiya then had him go over his skills, his chakra affinities(and was impressed that a young ninja had two strong affinities already) and any other special skills he had. After hearing all of them, Jiraiya explained what he was going to teach Sasuke.

"Put your headband over your eyes," he said, getting a confused look in response, so he explained, "You are skilled kid, but right now your eyes are holding you back. They give you a powerful crutch to rely on, and if you improve your other skills without needing your eyes then you'll improve massively.

I'll give you a day or two to get used to it, and once you do we'll start lightly sparring so you can learn to fight blind."

It took Sasuke a full day before he stopped tripping over his own feet, and two days before he could navigate effectively without walking into every tree in his path. He did it by lightly pulsing his chakra through his ears, almost forming a version of echolocation. It enhanced his hearing, and the chakra would bounce off of nearby objects and he'd know to go another way. It wasn't perfect, but he could walk normally.

As it turns out, Sasuke could *not* fight using that same method.

"You have the right idea kid, but that method is too slow. You don't want to be using your chakra to echolocate, you simply want to boost your hearing and react that way. Real sounds are much faster than chakra bouncing."

Sasuke ignored the man, trusting his method to work for him, and got a kick to the gut in response.

"Okay, fine!"

A week later, and Sasuke was starting to get used to the method of fighting. He only took his blindfold off to eat and when he was sleeping, but had become used to the darkness that was his new training regime. By the time they had reached the first major town he had almost no issued weaving through the crowds. Of course, when someone stumbled or moved without paying attention into his way, he would walk into people but for the most part it was like he could see normally.

The city they had entered was called Tanzaku Gai, and from what Sasuke understood it was a huge gambling city, with casinos on every block. Jiraiya had taken to investigating each one while Sasuke was tasked with checking out restaurants and the like for word of Tsunade's presence. Eventually, after two days of wandering around Sasuke gave up and went to find Jiraiya. When he finally found the old pervert, the man was sat next to a pretty blond woman with massive… personality. Next to her was a younger brunette who was stammering.

"L-Lady Tsunade, a-are you sure you don't want to go back? Jiraiya-sama offered to pay off your debts… all of them! Don't you know how much that is?"

Tsunade silenced her assistant with a single finger, and continued to glare at Jiraiya.

"I'm not going back to that shithole, not for a visit and especially not to become the Hokage. That's a fool's job, and anyone who takes it deserves to die as their predecessors have."

Sasuke had enough at that point, ripping off his headband and stomping up to the woman.

"You can badmouth the village all you want, but don't you dare insult the dreams of those who actually give a damn about the people around them!" he shouted, quite uncharacteristically. Jiraiya smirked, and let the kid continue.

"Who are you to decide someone's dream isn't worth obtaining? You couldn't obtain your happy ending, so everyone else should die because of it?"

"What the hell do you know, kid? My brother died because he wanted to be Hokage, my fiance died because he wanted to be Hokage. My uncle, my grandfather, my sensei, this idiot's student, all dead because they were the Hokage."

"They died protecting what they believed in, while you're running from the thing that they fought to save. You don't deserve to say their names."

Tsunade stood up and grabbed the kid by the shirt and lifted him into the air.

"You know nothing about what that village and the title of Hokage has taken from me, so don't pretend to think a snot-nosed brat like you could ever feel my pain!"

Jiraiya chuckled, "Actually Tsunade, you're looking at one of the only people who can. Let me introduce Uchiha Sasuke, the only surviving member of the Uchiha clan other than his brother, who killed the rest of his family. Even more, Sasuke's teammate Uzumaki Naruto was just taken by a group called the Akatsuki. So, I'd imagine he knows exactly what you've gone through."

Tsunade gasped, and slowly lowered the kid to the ground.

"Uzumaki Naruto? As in… that Uzumaki Naruto?"

"The Kyuubi's jinchuriki?" Sasuke scoffed, "Yeah, that's him. You're just another old woman who only cares about what's inside of him, aren't you?"

Tsunade glared again, "The Uzumaki were a clan from the same ancestors as the Senju, and furthermore my grandmother was an Uzumaki. Naruto is practically family."

She looked back to Jiraiya, and sighed.

"I'll consider it. But I have to warn you, Orochimaru came to see me today."

She explained about how their old sensei had sealed Orochimaru's arms, and that the snake had come to her to request her medical assistance. He was due to come back in a week for a response, and Tsunade was inclined to say yes. She didn't explain the prize Orochimaru had offered her, nor her temptation to help her old teammate, because she knew Jiraiya wouldn't let her.

"That snake… When he comes back, I'll be by your side to help you, Hime. You can count on me!" Jiraiya said with a massive, confident grin that Tsunade couldn't help but smile at. Some things never changed, after all.

As the week went on, Sasuke continued to train with Jiraiya with his blindfold. The day before Orochimaru was set to return, Jiraiya sparred with him one last time, this time allowing Sasuke to remove his blindfold and use his Sharingan.

Sasuke found himself able to react faster and faster to the mans punches and, unbeknownst to him, had unlocked his third tomoe of his eyes due to the increase in reactions and overall speed. He even came very, very close to hitting Jiraiya. He didn't do it of course, but just getting close was a huge accomplishment.

That night, Jiraiya took him out to eat to 'celebrate' his improvement in his taijutsu abilities, and met Tsunade and Shizune at a restaurant. They ate, and actually had a good time, but the next morning Jiraiya found himself nearly unable to move. Just as the pair woke up, Shizune came running in to tell Jiraiya that Tsunade ditched her that morning. As it turned out, Tsunade had drugged her former teammate and went to meet Orochimaru.

She performed a quick detox of Jiraiya's blood, but he was still feeling lightheaded and weakened. They moved as quickly as they could to the meeting place, and found Tsunade locked in a deadlock with Orochimaru as Kabuto was about to strike her from behind. Shizune fired a flurry of Senbon to drive the spy back. Sasuke immediately blitzed forward, surprising the medic-nin and striking him with a flurry of punches. They all came close to landing, but Kabuto managed to block or dodge them all before recovering.

"Sasuke-kun, I heard about your teammate. I hope poor Naruto-kun is alright, he seemed like a nice kid. Shame, really, that you weren't able to save him."

One fireball later, and Kabuto continued, "No, really, had you been stronger you may have been able to stop your _brother_ from taking Naruto and Gaara. Oh, you didn't know? Itachi was the Akatsuki member that took Naruto from your village. Guess that shows just how large the gap is between you two."

Sasuke yelled in pain and rage as his seal began to spread, grabbing at his neck and trying in vain to halt it. Once it had finally taken over, Sasuke became eerily calm.

"I'll kill you. Then, once I'm done with you, I'll go for Orochimaru. Once he's dead, my brother will be in reach, and with him dead Naruto will be free."

Sasuke rushed Kabuto at a speed he'd never come close to, freely allowing the seal to flow through him and give him power. Where Kabuto before had been able to block his blows, he now had to dodge or else take serious damage. More than once however, Kabuto wasn't quick enough. Right as Sasuke was about to land his chidori however, Kabuto smirked. His hand glowed with blue chakra, and swung up to swipe straight through Sasuke's arm. The chidori dissipated as he yelled out in pain, his tendons being severed and arm left limp and useless.

He wasn't able to pay attention to Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya's fight, but he did notice that Shizune had engaged the medic using his own technique against him, and resolved to ignore the pain and assist the kind woman.

He tried striking Kabuto head on, but was quickly kicked away and paid no mind.

"_If I'm so good, then why couldn't I beat Gaara? Naruto did it, but only after I had gotten utterly defeated. If I had been good enough, Naruto wouldn't have been unconscious and maybe he wouldn't have been kidnapped."_

"_Simple, strengths and weaknesses. I assume you know about elemental ninjutsu, and how they all have a strength and weakness to the other elements right?"_

_Getting a short nod in response, the older man continued, "Ninja are the same way. Your style is much more of a true ninja's style than Naruto. You're fast and efficient, good at stealth, a true assassin. _

_Against another Ninja, or even Gaara without his tailed beast, you'd probably win._

Sasuke smirked, and made a few handsigns. Casting a simple genjutsu over Kabuto, he began to casually walk off to the left, and he noticed that Kabuto was unconsciously tracking a shade of himself to the opposite direction. Pulling out a Kunai, he tossed it at Kabuto's head, tossed so perfectly that it would practically pierce his nose from the side.

Kabuto smirked and leaned forward, dodging the kunai that he saw coming for the rear of his head, but at the very last second turned his head so that the kunai cut through his cheek, leaving him alive but distracted enough that Shizune could cut through his wrist. Stunned at the sudden loss of feeling in his left arm, Kabuto was struck again in the opposite shoulder, and lastly was cut through the chest. Falling to the ground, it seemed that Kabuto's heart had been sliced by the chakra scalpel, and he began to choke on his own blood.

"_Cough_-genjutsu? That-_cough_\- wasn't in your file!" the spy yelled before slumping over, dead.

Turning around to face the other threat, Sasuke was amazed. Before him was a giant slug spitting acid at a smiling Orochimaru who easily dodged the incoming slime. Jiraiya was standing next to the slug holding a small orange toad, groaning about how Tsunade had weakened him for no reason.

"No reason my ass! This is my fight Jiraiya, you and the kid need to get out of here!" she said with blood spattered on her face. To Sasuke this seemed normal in this high level of a fight, but Shizune was amazed. She knew of Tsunade's hemophobia, and reasoned that the wakeup call of meeting someone, practically the only person, who had lost more than her and was still fighting had cured her. That, or the knowledge that her family had been stolen before she could ever meet him, and that the indirect cause of it was standing in front of her.

Let it be known, the Legendary Sucker got her name not just for her bad luck, but also her stubbornness in admitting defeat when she felt she was right. And right now, Orochimaru was feeling her full wrath. Eventually, Orochimaru got tired of dodging and decided to throw in the towel. His henchman was down, his arms were useless, and his chakra was quickly running out. He wasn't ready to pull out his trump cards yet, and as such abandoned the fight. With Jiraiya in his weakened state, and a wounded Sasuke to look after, Tsunade backed off.

"Some trick kid, but I can't imagine that that's all it took to take out someone of Kabuto's level. No one knows much about him, but he was able to hide in the village for years and even take out an Elite Jounin," Jiraiya stated, throwing a kunai at the body of the silver haired medic. Upon contact, the body detonated in a flurry of explosive seals. Sasuke growled in frustration, angered at the fact that he let the traitor get away. Next time… no, there was no time for that! Naruto was captured, damn it all! Revenge could wait… at least, revenge on Kabuto. Itachi, now, that was a different story entirely.

The group returned to the hotel to treat Sasuke's arm. While the tendons had been severed by Kabuto's chakra scalpel, they were cut cleanly and were easily reattached by Tsunade.

"So, I take it you're coming back with us, Tsunade-hime?" Jiraiya asked, smirking as he already knew the answer.

"As much as I hate to say it, I don't think I have a choice. A group of rogue ninja has the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki in their posession, Orochimaru is active again, and besides me their best option is _you_, so I'm left with no option but to accept the position," Tsunade replied, rolling her eyes. Shizune had a wide smile on her face, as she was finally going home to Konoha.

-

"And with the power given to me by the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni, I name you the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato!"

Tsunade stood before the whole village, and began a speech on the will of fire. Sasuke, who had been asked by the new Hokage to stand beside her as she accepted the title, rolled his eyes. Bonds were important, he wouldn't deny it, but the talk about the village and the roots and all that was just naive. He'd seen first hand that sometimes the village, the people inside of it, all of that wasn't important. Itachi didn't possess the "will of fire" and yet he slaughtered the strongest clan in the nation in one night. Naruto did believe in the will of fire, he was a shining example of it, and yet he had been captured and could be…

No, not dead. Sasuke couldn't accept that Naruto was gone. Jiraiya had said the Akatsuki's time table was three years, and he was just going to hope that Naruto could hold out for that long.

Tsunade finished her speech, and Sasuke couldn't help but be impressed. When he had first seen her, she had seemed like any other random woman, with nothing particularly special about her. Sure, she was good looking, but other than that she wasn't anything to talk about.

But now, donning the robes and hat of the Hokage, she looked regal and powerful, as if she was ready to lead an army or host the daimyo at a moments notice. She had been born to lead after all, the Senju had been the only clan to rival the Uchiha before they had withered away.

The ceremony ended, and Tsunade asked Sasuke to come back to her office. Upon arriving, he found Kakashi, Jiraiya, and a man he didn't recognize.

"Kakashi, Sasuke, Tenzo, thank you all for coming. With Uzumaki Naruto's kidnapping, our village is not only missing a ninja of no small skill, but also the jinchurikii of the Kyuubi no Yoko. As such, our village will be in immediate danger should the other nations find out about this.

As such, I am reappointing Hatake Kakashi to the position of Anbu Captain. You will resume your position as leader of the squad Taka, with Tenzo as your second. Your task will be to determine the werabouts of the Akatsuki, and determine where they are holding our missing genin."

"Hai, hai. I was planning to ask you for a reappointment anyway, this just speeds things up," Kakashi replied nonchalantly, his nose buried in a familiar orange book, and he continued, "I won't fail you, Hokage-sama. Anbu are supposed to detach themselves from emotion, but that doesn't change the fact that Naruto was my student. I will get him back."

Sasuke went to speak up, but a glance and a wink from Jiraiya caused him to pause.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I am glad to inform you that, due to your assistance in the battle against Otogakure as well as your assistance of Tsunade and Jiraiya of the Sannin against Orochimaru himself, you have been granted a field promotion to Chunin. And, as you have reached the minimum rank for it, I would offer you a trial in the Anbu black ops. Should you pass the trials, you will be inducted into the ranks of Anbu under Captain Hatake, and you will be able to aid in the search for your teammate. Do you accept?"

Sasuke knelt down before the Hokage, and activated his Sharingan. With a stare that could freeze even the most conditioned of men, he nodded once in acceptance.

"Well, now that that's all over, I'll be off! You anbu can do your thing, hunt down Naruto's captors, all that. I'll be doing my own research into the Akatsuki, and when they show up… well, you'll hear about it, I'm sure."

Jiraiya's statement started nonchalant and childlike, but by the end you could hear the venom in his voice. Jiraiya was an avid defender of second chances and positivity, but _no one_ messed with his students. He had lost too many of them, and he refused to add Naruto to that list.

The Toad Sage would die before he let the Akatsuki kill Naruto.

**Huh. So, I started writing this in… 2017? Randomly got back into fanfiction recently and decided to finish the first chapter of this. I don't know if I'll ever upload more than one chapter of this, but I'm curious to see the response to it nonetheless. Feel free to review and all that, let me know what you think.**

**Also, I know it moved fast. I've always tried to get the setup chapter out of the way quickly in fanfictions, I hate when they take 5-6 chapters just to set up the alternate storyline. Thanks for the read.**

**Hn.**


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